wise words


KELLY NOONAN-GORES ON HOW WE SHAPE OUR HEALTH


by April Thompson


spent 20 years in front of the camera as an actress, she turned her talents to producing award-winning fi lms like Tooken, Beneath and Take a Seat. She considers her latest, the documentary HEAL (HealDocumentary.com), to be her ultimate achievement. “I included as many inspiring stories of healing change as pos- sible to expand viewers’ beliefs in what’s possible, to alter the narrative around mystery illnesses being incurable or cancer equaling death,” says Noonan-Gores. When she was prescribed Prilosec for acid refl ux at age 28, Noonan-Gores de-


A


ſt er Los Angeles native Kelly Noonan-Gores


cided she was too young and otherwise healthy to become dependent on it. By taking an integra- tive nutrition course, she realized the possibilities of alternative healing methods, catalyzing an ongoing explora- tion into optimizing life and health through the powers of mind, body and spirit. “We are not the passive victims of faulty genes; our lifestyle choices, thoughts, and beliefs shape our health,” says Noonan-Gores, a longtime practitioner of yoga and meditation.


HEAL features upliſt ing interviews


with the scientists, visionaries and healers that inspired her, including Deepak Chopra, Bruce Lipton, Marianne William-


Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life. ~Omar Khayyam


son and patients diagnosed with diverse ailments that sought diff erent healing modalities to take their health into their own hands.


What are some common ele- ments in the stories of patients featured in HEAL?


One common thread revolves around our subconscious programming. From the time we’re born, we are downloading “programs” or belief systems from society, parents, teachers and whoever and whatever else is in our environment. Many have learned through their own healing journeys of nega- tive belief systems running their lives; each one had to become aware of these beliefs in order to change. Another is that when events are


too painful, we consciously suppress or unconsciously repress them, and that trauma stays in our cells and might manifest in disease. To move that stuck energy, we must heal that emotional trauma to allow physical ailments to transform. A third theme is understanding


how stress aff ects our lives and immune systems, and doing things to manage or mitigate it through tools like meditation or breath work. Some of the patients worked with spiritual psychologists using Emo- tional Freedom Techniques to release past stress held in their body, shiſt ing beliefs to a trusting, non-victim place. Dietary shiſt s also made a diff erence.


In acute healing, we realize the eff ect of diff erent foods which can reduce or exacerbate infl ammation.


Which messages in how the body and mind collaborate to promote healing are audiences keying in on?


Visualization is a powerful and wide- spread tool in healing; we can use imagination to reframe and tell a diff erent story. Research has shown that visual- izations can aff ect brain chemistry and lessen side eff ects. T e mind is conditioned to go to the


worst-case scenario; we can instead retrain it to focus on the best-case scenario, and


18 Austin Edition AustinAwakenings.com


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